Set In Sparks (Morningstars Book 2) (20 page)

“What’s your name?” he asked gently while Cia shifted the girl on her arms from left to right. It was weird being reminded of the fact that she was a full on human, getting uncomfortable or losing her strength if she held onto heavy things too long.

“Willow,” the woman replied and Kaden nodded.

“Little star?” he called out and Maya looked up, coming over as he pointed her to join them. “Willow, let me introduce you to your Queen,” he then added and the woman’s jaw dropped.

“Kaden, is that necessary? Let’s stick with Maya, there’s –”

“You’re the Queen?” Willow asked in disbelief.

“The one and only,” Cia snickered and suddenly Willow fell to her knees, bowing to Maya. Kaden saw how Maya closed her eyes, clearly feeling uncomfortable.

“Please, just get up,” she whispered as people around them started to drop to their knees.

“You’ve been nothing but kind. You helped us all, made sure we were fed before you took a bite. You soothed our worries, eased our pains and made sure we had a place to go to. You didn’t mind getting your hands dirty and you proved that royalty comes with actions, not with titles. I’m honored to be in your presence, my Queen,” Willow announced loud enough so her voice echoed through the almost silent entry hall. “I bow to your greatness,” she finished and agreeing noises came from all corners of the room.

Kaden saw that the warriors exchanging glances, then Red was the first to step over, lowering himself to one knee in front of her. “To the Queen,” he exclaimed, bowing his head. Lex followed suit, and so did Devon and Matt.

“To the Queen,” they said in unison and Kaden took a spot next to his twin as they, too, lowered themselves to their knee. “To our girl,” Jaden whispered, but no matter that it was meant for Maya’s ears only, a few others chuckled. No matter what happened, Kaden knew that Maya had exactly the support she needed.

Ryder couldn’t help but watch in awe as the hall and the stairs filled with kneeling people, all paying respects to their Queen, his sister. He couldn’t be more proud of her even if they were actually on speaking terms. Maya was flustered and eventually told everyone to get up again because, after all, they had arranged for a cleaning crew so no one needed to sweep the floors with their jeans. It made everyone laugh and then he realized that Maya was coming over to him.

“Thank you,” she growled, furrowing her brow at the group of warriors that now stood together, obviously talking game plan.

“Didn’t do anything,” he replied, yet again surprised that Maya could talk normally to him.

“Exactly,” she agreed. “Listen, I want you to take Cany and then the two of you settle down for a few hours of sleep. I gave her room away to one of the teens. I’m sorry, but I figured you would want to keep her close anyway.” She looked down on her hands and Ryder followed her glance, noticing that she was trembling again. “He’s dead, Ryder,” she added a lot softer now.

There was no need to clarify who ‘he’ was and Ryder sighed. “We knew that, Maya,” he reminded her and she shook her head.

“You did. I can’t believe it. I wanted it so bad. Even when I realized it was Destra having tried to lure me out, I wanted her to look at me and say it was all a joke. That she was just hiding him because she knew it would hurt me. I wanted her to tell me that my father’s still fine, even if I had died over that info,” she admitted and Ryder felt his heart breaking. Shooting a quick glance at the twins, he realized that they both were watching them.

“You’re so desperate for a family when you have
them
. Make it official. Make Kaden your mate. Be his Origin. The twins and you have a bond that no one else will be ever able to explain or understand. They can be your family, and maybe one day you’re done taking pity risks for hopeless things,” he explained, reaching out to touch Maya’s cheek. In moments like these, when she appeared young and breakable despite the position she held he wanted to be her big brother. He wished he could find the right words to get back his little sister.

“Pity risks? Just because I cannot believe my father is dead?” she asked, outraged.

“No, Maya. You’re wasting hope where you shouldn’t. Sending out Lex last night to find parents we knew were dead was stupid, too. Your hope will kill you one day,” Ryder pointed out, but Maya just snorted.

“I guess hoping you’ll be the one to make Cany happy is wasted then, too, isn’t it? After all, the world’s a big, bad, dark place and miracles don’t happen, right? I tell you a secret, Ryder. They do. I should be a monster and I’m not. I should be dead and I’m not. I should be broken, but I’m not. I’d say hope so far worked pretty well for me. I’m done though hoping that you and I will ever find common ground. Take Cany and make sure she gets some sleep. Something’s on her mind and it’s not you,” she snapped and then walked away, her head held high.

“Are you supposed to antagonize your sister every chance you can?” Cany asked, pushing her hand into his. He turned back to her, not being able to help the relieved breath that escaped him.

“She could be dead.”

“She isn’t,” Cany assured and he knew that, yet it was a gnawing worry inside of him. Stakes were higher than ever when it came to Maya and he wouldn’t stand by watching as she took unnecessary risks. “I hate to tell you, but she’s no longer your responsibility. Between Kaden and Jaden she’ll hear enough, so maybe you should back off and be supportive. Neither of you ever thought about the fact that if you were there for her she wouldn’t have the feeling to do it all by herself, would she?”

Ryder hated that she made sense, yet he drew her in and kissed her forehead. “Good point,” he admitted and then gave her a smile.

“Ryder, we need to talk,” Cany whispered, tucking at his hand, as he wanted to lead her to the bedroom. He guessed it was a universal truth that all men hated that exact sentence.

“You have to stay with me. Maya gave someone your room,” he repeated what he knew was a lie. Maya wouldn’t ever put someone in a bedroom without asking the owner first. She had just tried to make sure that Ryder wouldn’t leave Cany alone.

“How about we go to the library and I tell you what I have to say and you can decide if you want me to stay with you?” she offered and he turned back to her.

“Cany, you and I are in it for life. Whatever the problem is, we’ll deal with it,” he promised, seeing how she took a few fortifying breaths.

“Please,” she just brought out and he groaned in exasperation, picking her up wedding style to carry her up the stairs and into his bedroom. She held onto him as if she worried she’d never see him again if she let go. Entering his bedroom, he threw the wooden door close, carrying her past the bathroom door and the closet over to the dark grey metal bed between the two windows that grazed the back of his room. His simple white sheets seemed suddenly extra cold as her chestnut hair spilled over the cotton after he laid her down on it. He almost was ready to crawl over her and –

“It was me. The devastation out there, the broken homes … it’s all on me,” she whispered and it was clear in her voice how hard she tried not to break out in tears. Whatever bothered her seemed to be serious if her fear of losing him was any indication. Any lustful thoughts fled his mind at her trembling bottom lip.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he mumbled. She looked like a picture of misery, sitting up again, her hazel eyes filled with sadness. He knelt down in front of her, taking her hands in his. “Cany, why don’t you look at me and we start at the beginning?”

She looked at him with a tear-stained face and then took a few deep breaths. “My mom is scared of me. My name used to be Zoey. Crazy, huh? Just Zoey. And then I turned two and she changed it to Hurricane.” Cany’s voice broke and Ryder wished he could ease her pain and carry part of her burden. He cupped her cheek, resting his forehead against hers. “You know how they say that not many vampires have special abilities? Yeah, guess there are still too many,” she went on and Ryder finally pulled her down onto the wooden floor with him. He tucked her against his side until she was in his lap and he almost wrapped around her.

“When I turned two, I wanted cake. Like real cake, heavy on the cream and icing. Mom refused. I threw a fit, or that’s what she’s telling me anyway. It started to storm inside the room, followed by heavy rain, and thunder.
Inside our house.
  Supposedly it took a while until I calmed down. A lot of the rooms needed redoing. When I was five she lost it and screamed at me. I screamed back and my anger brought on lightening and storm. She lost her footing and then was almost two feet above ground, caught in a mini hurricane. It sobered me instantly and my mother dropped like a stone. She broke her arm and a leg. Of course it isn’t a big thing for us vampires, but you can guess the symbolic meaning.”

Ryder had a hard time to keep his body’s reaction in check. He wasn’t afraid of Cany, not in the least, but he had the incredible urge to run outside again and see what kind of power his Origin exactly possessed. He kept stroking her back, being glad that she couldn’t feel what he was feeling. Confusion didn’t even cut it. How could parents be afraid of their own child if all she needed was your support and love?

“Ryder?” The insecurity in her voice pulled him back from his thoughts, making him realize that she was waiting for a reaction. There was no need to say more, because this part of her story had already filled in all the blanks. After all,
he
had taken care of her the day before. He had comforted her, stopped her from crying. Kaden had known, which explained the urgency with which the twin had wanted someone to make her feel better.

“But this storm was outside, wasn’t it? Maybe it wasn’t you?” he asked, knowing it wasn’t the best thing to say, but he couldn’t help it.

“It’s … it has something to do with at what the feelings are directed. When I’m feeling sorry for myself it’s around me. When I hate the world in general, it’s outside. A while back there was this fog … the warriors mentioned they couldn’t see their opponents anymore … it was a day I basically felt more than just a little melancholic and confused. I was attracted to you, I wanted to do a good job, but Maya was a crying mess … I was mad the world didn’t solve its problems so my world could be fine.”

“And yesterday you hated the world more than anything? You were so sad, you almost tore the town down?” he wondered out loud and she stiffened under his hands, trying to get away.

“Just … don’t,” she pleaded and Ryder wasn’t even sure what she was asking of him.

“Don’t what? Don’t try to understand you? Don’t try to make sense of you? Don’t try to prove to you that I don’t judge? Cany, I don’t understand how someone so close to you can break your heart so much. You forgot you’re the coolest chick out there with the best power ever?” She shook her head, obviously not wanting to hear what he had to say.

As much as he hated it, he framed her face, holding her in place with a little more force than he wanted. “Don’t what, Cany? Want you so much I can’t think straight? Will you stop trying to get away from me when I’m trying to understand while, at the same time, not getting up to find your damn parents and hurt them the way they hurt you?” He was more pissed than he ever had been. Cany’s mother deserved some words and a big piece of his mind, yet somehow he thought she wasn’t even worth the time. All that mattered was proving to Cany that he wouldn’t ever abandon her. He wanted to cry for the heartache, the true depth of it, after now being able to combine the destruction outside with the broken girl from the night before.

“Don’t act as if there’s any excuse for what happened,” she finally mumbled and he rested his head against her shoulder in defeat. She was right; there was no excuse for that, yet it wasn’t all her fault. “I can’t control it. Never could. I try hard to…” She trailed off and Ryder pulled back to watch her. “I saved Maya’s life with fog last night, but it didn’t hold. I couldn’t focus long enough,” Cany explained and Ryder could feel her excitement, yet the shining in her eyes dimmed almost instantly again. “Kaden thinks that maybe you can help me control it,” she then whispered and Ryder instantly went hot and cold. Kaden didn’t mean Ryder had to train her, Kaden meant his blood.

“I don’t know, but we can work on it and all –”

“You don’t want to mate me anymore?” she inquired, her voice sounding small. He wanted nothing more, but he had no idea when the people downstairs would need their help again, not to mention the fact that he was scared. He had never thought that exchanging blood with her could make him feel like a spineless little shit. He wanted her so much, no doubt about that, but if her emotions could cause a reaction like that, what would it be like if she felt his feelings, too? The burning anger at her mother? The absolute terrifying fear about losing his sister? The devastation at the broken families downstairs? There was definitely nothing he wanted more than to finish that bond between them, but now things suddenly had gotten much more complex.